Tasker is a fantastic app for tech enthusiasts. It allows you to automate almost anything on your phone, and it’s fully customizable and very powerful.

Unfortunately, it’s likely that the app will soon be less powerful. Thanks to Google’s changes to the Play Store’s rules, apps can no longer access SMS and call permissions unless they are the default apps for those uses. Those permissions are necessary for Tasker but it does not comply with those rules.

The developer has contacted Google for an exception, which the app has gotten before, but the company has denied them. Thus the developer will be removing any functionality that requires SMS and call permissions in January.

It’s not too late for Google to make an exception. If you want to make your voice heard, you can contact Google about this too. Until then, the app will lose functionality because of Google striving for better security on the Play Store. A noble cause, to be sure, but maybe an overbearing solution.